Sitting in the woods hour after hour makes a man think about many different things.  What makes a hunting season successful?  Everyone has there own feelings on this matter.  for me it's a success if no one gets hurt or lost and yes having deer hanging is also important.  This year I feel we had a very good season.  Very few deer were killed by us, but all of us in the group seen deer and the two youngest members of our group both got to shoot deer.   Brandon shot a small button buck and my son shot a 3 point 175# buck.  It had
a very small rack for a deer about 3 years old, but it had a  very large body.  Just wasn't enough of the right
kind of feed to produce a large rack. 

        While sitting there staring into the woods I started to think about other things that make life great!  I have
a wonderful family and the Lord has been good to me.  He has blessed me in many ways!  I have 3 great boys.  Damon(buff daddy), Brandon (BJ), and Neil (one shot).  All are special to me in different ways. Damonwas unable to hunt with us this year.  It's been the first year he wasn't with me since he was 9 years old, but I'm very proud of him. .Damon has shot 4 deer in the past few years.  He is serving his country in the Army as a combat engineer.  I pray fro him every day!
Brandon doesn't care to hunt but he like to sing and has a great voice.  He also works for me  in my business.
Neil is the youngest but  this was his 2nd season out caring a gun he shot his first legal buck.  50 yards away, one shot through the lungs. Dad and Grandpa sure were excited and proud!!!!  Neil also shot a button buck last year.

      It was a strange year.  No snow so the deer were hard to see.  The woods was noisy at times, it rained
it, was warm the first two days and we hunted in shirt sleeves.  The animals in the woods did strange things as well.  I have spent many, many hours in the woods,but never seen grouse do what they did this year.  I got to watch them strut on a long about ten feet away.   I had one land in a tree next to me and watch me for over 20 mintues.

       All in all it was a very good season for me.  I never fired a shot, but I seen 8 deer, one  Eagle, 9 grouse,
many squirrels ( including red and gray)  and a large hoot owl.
       I look forward to next year and the deer hunting season!

This year with the ever increasing treat of CWD more and more states are cutting back or eliminating  baiting and feeding of deer,  it made me think back to how we use to hunt as I was growing up.

     Growing up and hunting in northern Wisconsin farm country,  remember the chase for the big farm "bucks".  Back then no one ever sat over a bait pile.  We worked hard, but always got deer.  How did we do it?  Making "DRIVES".  We had very systematic organized drives.  We would line up guys and move through an area pushing the deer towards others who were standingwaiting for the deer to step out.  The object of course was to chase the deer to the guys who were standing, who would then shoot the deer.  Of course it wasn’t quite that simple!  Much time and effort was put in to it long before we ever hit the woods opening morning.  I went back to this basic way of hunting this year with good success.  We moved many deer seen many does and did shoot the bucks we seen.  Here are some tips and ideas to make your deer drives successful.
KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL DEER DRIVES

1.  Know the area you’re hunting>  It’s important so you don’t lose                   
     hunters .
2.  Know the deer pattern and runways in the area. 
     This will help you move the deer naturally!
3.  Wind  Direction.  Deer prefer to run into the wind and will     
     also be pushed cross wind.
4.  You need a good starting point and finishing point.
      Everyone needs to start at the same time, moving in the
      same direction to those standing who should have an idea of                   
      how long it should take the drivers,  drivers should be spaced
     out to cover the area and come out close to the standers
5.  Standers need to be able to cover areas for shooting safely between standers and drivers.  Standers must also be able to cut the drivers off after the drive is over.
6.  Communication between everyone is a must.  Starting and ending of drives must be communicated. Hand held radios
orFocus on areas of potential deer, take the time to walk in the area you want to hunt before the season, looking for runways, scrapesand rubs.  Also make sure there is plan for making drives in that area.  Planning for at least two ways to drive the area based on weather, natural travel of the deer, and wind direction.  Keep in mind planning for cut off spots to stop the drivers and safe shooting areas for the standers for each direction of the drive. whistles work well.